In the past, reproduction of original drawings or the like has been accomplished by the use of equipment such as diazo and ozalid equipment. Also, office equipment copiers such as the well known Xerox and IBM copy machines have been utilized to produce copies.
The prior equipment has been deficient in that it is extremely expensive, often complicated and inefficient in use. Further, the equipment of the past has often lacked the ability to provide enlarged copies and has often been incapable of either sensing colored portions of originals and/or printing copies in different colors. Prior equipment has also often suffered from distortion of the copy with regard to the original. Breakdowns such as paper jams, faulty circuits and the like have also been common in prior reproduction equipment.
The reproduction structure and method of the invention includes a light source and a plurality of sensors, means for driving an original to be copied past the light source in a manner to vary the light passed to the sensors in accordance with intelligence on the original which it is desired to copy, a plurality of printers connected to the sensors to print the intelligence sensed by the sensors on copy material passed by the printers and drive means for synchronizing the drive of the original and the copy.
Amplifiers may be provided between the sensors and printers to amplify the signal from the sensors for actuating the printers. Storage structure may also be provided between the sensors and printers for selectively storing the signal from the sensors for actuating the printers at a later time. The sensors and printers are modular in accordance with the invention so that substantially any width original may be reproduced. The copy may be an enlargement or a reduction of the original. Further, both the original and the copy may be in color.